


Truth Or Dare: First Contact

by AlaraKitan



Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Dark, Horror, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-04-23 03:55:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14324016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlaraKitan/pseuds/AlaraKitan
Summary: What happens when The Orville crew makes first contact with a powerful species who uses childish games to toy with the kind they find much more primitive than themselves.





	1. First Contact

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Yes this is clearly a stolen plot from a movie that just came out converted more to The Orville universe and lore. Once again, not a story for everyone and it will be dark and fucked up so if you aren't into that sort of thing, just avoid this one entirely. 
> 
> First chapter is pretty tame but it'll get worse as it goes along so I'm just warning everyone now.

It was business as usual on the Orville that day. They were just star mapping and Alara was getting bored enough that she was starting to doze off. That was until she became aware of an alert that said another ship was in the vicinity. She woke up far more at that point and looked at her screen. It was another Union ship which was weird, considering that if another one was going to be out there they would have been alerted. Or at least, should have been alerted. It wasn't that The Union hadn't made mistakes before or sent two ships to the same place. She was kind of suspicious but not exactly in a bad way. She alerted the captain to this matter and soon enough there were on screen communications to attempt to clear up what was going on. 

As it turned out, according to the Captain of the other ship, they had actually been lost due to engine trouble on their own vessel. She explained that they had just gotten back into Union territory and not to worry because there was help on the way they were just drifting until such a time that they could be met with a rescue ship. The scans that they ran on the other ship corroborated the story. Everything appeared to be on the up and up so Ed decided to invite them onboard if they wanted since they were depleted of supplies and other things. Alara was put in charge of going down to the shuttle bay to welcome everyone and check things out further but it was more of a formality than a precaution. 

She arrived there before the first shuttle was sent over. The Captain came over with a few other members of her crew. It seemed they were down quite a few people due to whatever issues they'd come across while being lost so they were really running on empty over there and overjoyed to be on a working ship. 

"I'm Captain Matthews," The woman introduced herself, "Thank you so much for your hospitality." Alara smiled at her and shook her hand. She was exceedingly attractive, which was the first thing Alara noticed. Exactly the type of woman Ed was going to be into. Normally, this might have been a problem had there not been a man standing right behind her who was exactly the type of man that Kelly would go for. Maybe this would be a good thing since both of them would be too distracted by the new people to get at each other's throats with jealousy. It annoyed her because she had her eyes set on Ed for a very long time she just knew it was not anything appropriate given the fact that he was her captain. It didn't keep her from hoping and fantasizing though. 

"I'm Lieutenant Kitan," She said, "Captain Mercer is on his way now." 

"Hi, I'm Commander Williams." The handsome man behind Captain Matthews said. Alara smiled at him as well and shook his hand. By the time she'd been introduced to the other four who had come over as the away team, Ed had entered the shuttle bay with Kelly and everyone started to talk as if they were old friends. Something did seem off about this though, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was almost as if things were just too perfect but she knew she couldn't say anything. Not just yet. Instead, she'd do her job as security chief and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. She just had no way of knowing exactly how weird and dangerous things were about to get. 

* * *

A few hours later there was a bit of a meet and greet party in the mess hall for everyone. The other crew had been given a tour of the ship while others had gotten things prepared. Alara had stopped by her office to make an entry in her log about everything going on and noted her suspicions even though she really didn't have specifics to list them under. She waited a while before joining the party, but it seemed she'd waited a bit too long as a lot of people had cleared out by that point. It was fine, anyway, considering the fact that she was tired and not feeling too sociable. 

"Oh hey Alara!" Gordon called as she went to grab some food. He was sitting around a table with Ed, Kelly, John, Captain Matthews, and her commander. "Come here you'll find this really fun." 

"Last time you said that I got food poisoning." She told him but grabbed her food anyway and came over to the table. 

"This time it doesn't have anything to do with eating strange mushrooms." He said. 

"What?" Ed asked. 

"Nothing, it's nothing." Gordon assured him, "We are going to play a game of truth or dare." 

"For the record, this was Gordon's idea," Kelly said. 

"Why am I not surprised?" Alara asked and then started to eat, "What is it? How do you play?" 

"It's an old Earth game, usually played by high school students." Ed said, "But it can be a fun icebreaker in the right setting." He then smiled flirtatiously at Captain Matthews and she had to clench her jaw otherwise she would have rolled her eyes. 

"More fun when alcohol is involved," Gordon said. 

"Okay...I guess I could try it." She said. "What do you do?" 

"It's simple." Kelly said, "One of us will ask someone else truth or dare and they choose one. Whatever they choose they have to do, like, if you chose truth and I asked you who on the ship you have a crush on, you'd have to tell me truthfully who it is." 

"We aren't playing right now, right?" Alara asked. 

"No, it's just an example, why?" Kelly asked. 

"Not important," Alara said, "And so if it's a dare then I'd have to do that? Why would anyone ever choose dare? Especially with someone like Gordon playing." 

"Usually to avoid having to tell the truth," John laughed, "Trust me, a game like this can get pretty intense." 

"I see why alcohol makes it more interesting then." Alara said, "But, I will not be drinking if you don't mind." 

"No problem," Gordon said, "Alright, I'll start this off. Kelly, truth or dare." 

"Truth," She said and took a sip of her drink, "Who would you rather go on a date with, me or John." 

"Seriously Gordon?" She laughed. 

"Come on, it's all in good fun, besides...you do know she's going to choose me, right?" John asked. Gordon glared at him and everyone laughed. Alara wasn't sure she saw the fun in this or the point but she didn't want to be a buzzkill. She felt like she was usually on the outs with the senior crew anyway and if she could show them that she was more fun than they assumed then things might get a bit easier for her. 

"Sorry Gordon, John is right. Gotta go with John." Kelly said. 

"Oh, tough break." Ed laughed. "Your turn, Kel." 

"Okay," She looked at Alara, "Truth or dare?" Alara wasn't expecting to be asked so quickly and since she'd just said what she had about not wanting to be asked who she had a crush on she figured that she probably should choose dare. Chances were that Kelly probably wasn't going to make her do anything too crazy. It was better than having to be asked by Gordon. 

"Dare." She said. 

"Alright, I dare you to..." She looked around for a moment as she appeared to be thinking about what she wanted the dare to be, "Two shots of Xelayan tequila, right now." 

"Okay..." She laughed, "Why?" 

"You said you wouldn't be drinking, I want to lower your inhibitions." She said. 

"Good thinking." Captain Matthews said and then smiled in a way Alara couldn't say she liked. If the others noticed they certainly weren't saying anything about it. Not wanting to ruin the game before it could barely get started, she got up and got herself two shots from the bar. She held them up so everyone could see her and then downed them quickly. At very least it got her a cheer from everyone at the table. She came back and sat down, starting to eat again. Two shots wasn't a huge deal for her, but she wasn't a regular drinker like the rest of them so she would get a bit of a buzz. With food in her system, it should help lessen the effects. 

"So it's my turn?" She asked. 

"Yes," Kelly said.

"And I have to ask someone new?" Alara asked. 

"That's how it works," Gordon said. She looked around the table and decided on Ed, mostly because she probably wouldn't have a chance to make him do something ridiculous or get a truthful answer out of him about anything any other way. 

"Alright Captain Mercer, truth or dare?" She smiled. 

"I just knew it was going to be me," He laughed, "Truth." 

"Do you really think I'm the best security officer this ship could have or do you think you might trade me in for someone more qualified?" She asked. Things went silent after that for a moment before Commander Williams leaned in and very eerily spoke. 

"Remember, you have to tell the truth, those are the rules." He said. If anyone was noticing how oddly the two newcomers were behaving they absolutely were not making light of it but she was starting to get kind of freaked out. She took a deep breath and wondered if maybe this was just part of the game. After all, everyone else here was human so they probably knew something she didn't. 

"Honestly? Maybe I could get someone with more experience, however, you are very good at what you do and everyone needs to start somewhere. I completely trust your judgment and I think that maybe even if you aren't the absolute best, you are the best fit for this ship and I wouldn't trade you in for anyone." He said. That made her smile and she looked down so she could hopefully hide the blush that was rising on her cheeks. 

"Thank you." She said softly. 

"BORING!" Gordon yelled, "Come on, ask me something." 

"Can't, it has to be John," Ed said, "So John-" 

"Dare." He said, "Can I do three shots?" 

"Not how this works." Captain Matthews said seriously but then laughed as if it were a joke. Damn this was getting confusing and weird. Alara was praying for just about anything to pull them out of this damn game because she was getting unnerved by it. 

"I dare you to ruin down that corridor, completely naked," Ed said. 

"Oh come on Ed, do you really think that's appropriate?" Kelly asked. 

"We are off duty, Kel, and no one's awake. The security officer is right here, no one will know but us." 

"Hey, I'm game," John said and got up starting to strip. 

"Woah dude, really?" Gordon asked. 

"You might be ashamed of that pasty white butt of yours but my body is a temple." He laughed. Once he was naked he took off running out of there to the delight and cheers of everyone else at the table. Alara had her mind on other things, mostly the very bizarre smiles on the faces of the Captain and Commander right next to her as they watched John complete the dare. Once he got back, he got dressed and sat down again. 

"Well done," Gordon told him. 

"Alright, my turn, Captain Matthews...truth or dare?" He asked. 

"Truth," she said. 

"You having fun here doing this? Or are you only playing alone because you are trying to sleep with Captain Mercer?" He asked. Everyone gasped and looked at him, including Alara. That was a pretty bold thing to outright ask. 

"The fun has really just started." She said, "As for Ed, he's not my type, sorry. I do quite like this game though." Just then the ship shuddered as the engines entirely shut down and everything switched to auxiliary power. 

"That's not good," Ed said. 

"I'll go check things out," Alara said. Technically she didn't have to leave to do any of that but she badly wanted to leave so before anyone could say anything else she headed for the door. That's when things went pitch black. She paused, where she was and put her hand on the doorframe. She turned back to look towards the table and right in front of her stood Captain Matthews but that demented grin was back on her face and her eyes were now glowing. "Back up." 

"Not having fun like the rest of the humans?" She asked. 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alara asked. 

"You aren't like them," Commander Williams said stepping out of the pitch darkness behind her, "You are vastly more intelligent, you notice things." 

"We just want to have fun. We've never seen your kind before, humans or otherwise." Matthews said. 

"What's going on here?" Alara asked. 

"Play the game, Lt. Kitan, or there will be dire consequences," Matthews warned her. She was seriously about to scream when the lights came back on, everything was normal, but no one was in the room anymore. She blinked a few times and looked around. There was nothing in there. No food, no evidence of a party, nothing that indicated that Captain Matthews or Commander Williams had ever set foot on that ship. 

"Computer...locate Captain Matthews." She said since the captain should have been in the ship's system if she had come on board so she should be able to track. 

"No existing crew member of that name is on board The Orville." The computer replied. 

"You've got to be kidding me..." Alara whispered. "That is not possible. Locate Commander Williams." 

"No existing crew member of that name is on board The Orville." The computer replied. She shook her head, she had no idea what the hell was going on here but she wasn't having it. Something was wrong and she was positive that all of that stuff had just happened, she could still taste the tequila she'd drank and feel the burn of it in her throat. 

"Lt. Kitan to Captain Mercer." 

"Mercer here." 

"Something is really wrong here, I need to see you right away." She said. 

"Alara?" 

"Just...can I meet you in your office please?" She asked. 

"That's fine, sure but what is this-" 

"I'll talk to you when I get in there okay?" She said not wanting to say anything else. Maybe it was just a bad dream, maybe she was stressed, but she was almost positive that was not what was happening here. She was pretty sure they had just encountered a new species one more powerful and twisted than they could even begin to understand. The only problem was, would anyone believe her before it was too late? 


	2. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ship Alara and Ed and I'm also weird with a kinky mind which explains a lot of stuff said in this chapter so if you don't like that ship or that stuff then please just...back out now I'm giving you fair warning.

When Alara got to Ed's office she walked right in and then saw Ed kind of get startled and quickly close out of whatever he'd just been watching on his computer. She wondered what that was about because of the fact that she'd just told him she was coming in here? Right? Honestly, it was hard to tell because she had also thought that she was playing a game of truth or dare with them in the mess hall just five minutes ago and that turned out not to be real either. 

"Did I interrupt something?" She asked. 

"No," He said, "Sorry, what was it that was on your mind? You wanna have a seat, you look kind of stressed." 

"Oh, I'm stressed alright." She said and sat down. "We were just in the mess hall playing truth or dare with some other Union crew but it turns out they are not what they seem and then...everything was just back to normal." 

"I'm sorry, what?" Ed asked. She definitely understood how this might be confusing but she wasn't sure how she was going to explain it in a way that wasn't confusing. 

"Okay so, earlier, I was on the bridge during my normal shift we all were, right?" She asked. 

"Yes," Ed said. 

"Well, suddenly we get this alert that another ship is in the area and it's a Union ship. Thinking that it's a mixup or...something because we were supposed to be mapping this area...we communicate with them and it turns out they had been lost and were in distress or-" 

"Alara wait...you're saying this happened? Like, today? On our shift?" Ed asked. 

"Yes." She insisted, "You don't remember any of it?" 

"No," He said slowly, "Are you sure it wasn't a dream?" 

"I'm positive this was not a dream, Captain." She said and she was positive it wasn't a dream. Whoever Captain Matthews was, obviously wasn't human. She'd said something about them being humans and her being different from that because she was a Xelyan so whatever this was, it wasn't humans they were dealing with. Possibly some super advanced lifeform who was able to do what they did with mind control and illusion. If that were the case then maybe it had all happened but no one remembered it, except her. Why though? Why would they set everything back to normal but allow her to remember? Was it the game? Were they still playing? 

"So there was a crew? What else happened?" 

"They said they'd been lost that's why there was so much damage to their ship." She said, "Then they told us that there was a rescue ship on intercept and wasn't far off. You invited them here and there was kind of like a party thing which I mostly didn't attend. When I got there, Gordon wanted me to play a game called Truth Or Dare and the new captain who said her name was Captain Matthews seemed way too into this." 

"What did she look like?" Ed asked. 

"Does it matter?" 

"Maybe, maybe not, you seem very insistent this was real and I'd like to know all of the details if that's the case." He said. 

"I don't know she was tall, blond, really good looking. You couldn't stop staring at her. It probably would have been a problem but her commanding officer was incredibly handsome and Kelly was really into him. He said his name was commander Williams. They both appeared to be human but I don't think they were." She said. 

"Do you have any proof of this happening?" Ed asked, "Sorry I mean, I'm not trying to call you a liar but-" 

"I know you aren't and I know it sounds weird but I'm positive that it happened." She said. "Why would I just make something like this up?" 

"I don't know but-" 

"But what? You have to trust me after all of this time...right?" She asked, hoping that he could trust her and did. Even if she completely understood why he wouldn't believe anything she was saying in the moment she was also his security chief and they had been through a lot together. 

"I believe that you believe you really saw or experienced something." Ed said, "I cannot take that alone as proof or I wouldn't be a good captain now, would I?" 

"No sir, but-" 

"What happened after that? You said something about a party and truth or dare?" He asked. 

"We were all playing, I didn't really want to but I didn't want to be a buzzkill either." She sighed, "Gordon asked Kelly a question, Kelly asked me a question, I asked you a question, you dared John to run down the corridor naked. It was about that time that everything went black and the ship seemed to shut down." She said. 

"What did you ask me?" He asked. 

"It's not important." She said not really wanting to get into that with him he made a face, "Look if this is a dream and you don't believe me, why does it matter?" 

"It might be important." He said. 

"I think the important thing here is that Captain Matthews and Commander Williams aren't human and they directly told me I was playing a game that we all are and I think we are still in it. They seemed to think of humans as weaklings and they said I was different because I noticed them when you all failed to." She said. "If they can do all of that they might still even be on this ship." 

"Okay," Ed said, "I want you to go get some rest, a lot of it, and take your next shift off. Also, see Claire." 

"Captain I'm not-" 

"I don't know what's going on here, and I honestly do think something happened to you to cause you to think this way but I honestly do not know what you are talking about." He said, "Rest, take a shift off, if you can bring me any proof of this or anything like that then I will be more than happy to look it over. I think that maybe, if you have some time off, you'll realize it was just a dream and...we can get past this." 

"I swear that-" 

"Alara, I don't want to have to write a report or question your mental stability so could you please do me and yourself a favor and just listen to what I told you to do?" Ed asked, his voice was very close to a strict warning tone but it was more friendly than that. She knew he wasn't trying to be a jerk and in the moment he seemed more concerned with losing her to some sort of mental breakdown than to aliens. If the truth or dare game really did happen in the mess hall and he really had said all of that stuff about her and it had been the truth then she was sure he didn't want to lose her because he thought she was also going crazy. She was damn sure she wasn't making this up and her best bet was to listen to him, for now, while also trying to find a way to prove it. 

"Alright," She said and stood up, "Thank you, sir." She headed for the door so she could go back to her quarters and 'rest' if that was even possible. 

"Things will turn out okay," Ed said. She nodded and left. Maybe they eventually would turn out to be okay but not if everyone ignored this entire situation. It was going to fall on her to convince him that something else was going on here and she didn't think it was going to be easy at all. 

* * *

The lift doors opened to let her in and she got on then asked for her deck and leaned against the wall. Even though she thought sleep would definitely help her here, she also didn't think she was delusional. The only thing sleep would do would allow her to think more clearly than she already was so she could find these aliens because if she had to guess they were still on the ship or close by. This wasn't something that she was willing to let go any time soon, no matter what Ed or anyone else thought about her. She'd convince them, she just had to figure out how. She'd been in worse situations before....right? 

The lift stopped and Kelly got on, except she didn't look like normal Kelly. She had that weird demonic smile and those glowing eyes that the other aliens had, it was akin to if they were wearing human masks but had a hard time mimicking human behavior so their mouths twisted into unnatural grins that went to the uncanny valley level of creepy. Kelly backed her up into the wall and she felt very intimidated. Whatever this was, it wasn't Kelly, it was just pretending to be Kelly. That was for sure. 

"Truth or dare..." It taunted her. 

"Go away..." She whispered, "You can't be on here and I will deal with you." 

"Truth....or....DARE!" The thing taunted again. She felt trapped, like the air was being squeezed out of her, as if she didn't have a choice but to choose one or the other. Seeing as how dares could be infinitely more dangerous than truth she went with 'truth' because all that meant was owning up to something and she figured damage control could be done if that was the case. 

"TRUTH!" She yelled. 

"Who is it you have a crush on, Alara?" The voice was similar to Kelly's but deeper and more demonic, it also seemed to echo from everywhere yet nowhere and only be inside of her head. She closed her eyes tightly. 

"I...I can't-" 

"TELL THE TRUTH OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!" The Kelly monster roared at her.

"CAPTAIN MERCER! I HAVE A CRUSH ON CAPTAIN MERCER!" She yelled. Then everything stopped. She didn't feel like she was being squeezed anymore and all the tension that was surrounding her instantly vanished. She opened her eyes to find Kelly standing there, staring at her like she was insane. 

"What?" Kelly asked. 

"Commander..." Alara breathed and backed away from her, giving her a good look over. That was definitely the real Kelly but when had she gotten on the lift? What was going on? How much had she heard, "Uh...what did you just hear me say?" 

"You practically screamed to the whole ship that you have a crush on Captain Mercer. Fortunately, I am the only one in here so...care to explain yourself?" She asked. 

"That's all you heard me say?" Alara asked. 

"Yeah, and it was kind of weird so-" 

"Nothing it's nothing...Kelly just...I'm having a very bad day. Please don't tell anyone I said that." She begged. Thank God she was in the lift with Kelly and not someone like Gordon who definitely would have told everyone what she'd just randomly screamed. It was so weird, she'd never felt that compelled to answer a question like that in that manner but whatever had been in the lift with her earlier and copying Kelly was powerful. Almost demonic. She full on did not believe in demons but she did believe in aliens and other species out there that were far more powerful and evil than they could ever understand. After all, they were currently in a relatively uncharted area of Union territory, who knew what was out here?

"Okay..." Kelly said slowly. 

"I didn't mean anything by it, I know you and him are...um...you two have-" 

"Look if you have a crush on him it's not the biggest deal in the world. Not sure it's the best idea but I don't care. We may have had a thing but it's not a thing anymore." Kelly told her and she couldn't tell if this was just being said to deflect from Kelly actually being angry or if she was being honest. 

"You won't tell anyone?" Alara asked. 

"No." She said and shook her head, "You're just lucky Gordon wasn't here." 

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Thanks." She breathed and the doors opened. She hurried out of there to her room. Either the aliens were on the ship, or they could exercise powerful mind control, maybe both. There had to be a way to catch them, and she really hoped she could do it before they went after someone else.

* * *

"You weren't kidding about Alara," Kelly said coming into Ed's office. He hurried to turn off something he was watching again and looked slightly annoyed. She knew that face, it was his 'porn-watching' face when he just got caught. She didn't know why he was trying to do it in his office but she also didn't want to call him on it because she didn't think it was that big of a deal and since she hadn't actually seen what he was doing there wasn't proof, it was a theory, and it would just lead to an argument. If she actually had caught him, she'd have damn well lectured him on it. He was just a bit too quick that time. 

"Huh?" He asked. 

"Busy?" She asked. 

"I am not busy," He said, "Just, what was that about Alara?" 

"She's acting weird, I think she might be on the verge of a mental breakdown." Kelly explained, "We were on the lift together and she suddenly just...shouted randomly at me, well not at me, just shouted I guess." 

"What did she say?" Ed asked. Kelly paused, she didn't think it would be helpful for Ed to know and since what Alara had said wasn't dangerous, not really, she didn't think it was too awful to keep it a secret like she promised. 

"It was a bunch of...jumbled words I couldn't really understand her and when I tried to get clarification she rushed out of there." She said. "I can go check on her if you want." 

"No, I probably should do that." He said, "I'm headed that way anyhow because office hours are finally over." 

"You sure?" Kelly asked, "Don't want me to leave you to that video of yours?" 

"Wasn't watching a video but nice try." He stood up and walked towards the door then left. She frowned and followed after him because she knew she really shouldn't be in there without him. At very least if Alara was going to have some type of nervous breakdown they weren't in the middle of the most complicated mission in the universe. She did pick a relatively good time for it to happen. 

* * *

Ed stood outside of Alara's door and chimed the alert so she'd know someone was out there. After a pause, he was told to come in and the doors opened. He walked in and saw Alara standing by the window in uniform, her back to him. It was also really dark in there, eerily so. He swallowed hard and took a few steps towards her. She turned to look at him, except she wasn't herself. Her eyes were glowing and her mouth was twisted into some sort of sick, demonic grin. It was like trying to watch a very badly photocopied version of her. 

"Alara..." He whispered. 

"Truth or Dare..." She spoke her voice oddly soothing to the point where it also became terrifying. He backed up and she came towards him until he was in the corner just staring down at her. Those glowing red eyes nearly burning throw his soul. 

"This isn't real...this can't be real...I'm dreaming..."

"It's no dream, Ed. Truth or DARE. It's your turn, play by the rules." The Alara thing said to him. Much like Alara's logical conclusion before all he could think to pick was 'truth' because he really didn't want to be compelled by this monster thing to do something evil and even though he wasn't sure that would happen or could, something made him feel like it could. 

"Truth." He said. 

"What were you watching on your computer." The Alara copy asked him then twisted her head unnaturally to the side, to a point where he could hear bones cracking, a sound that made his stomach churn. 

"N-Nothing..." He whispered. 

"TELL THE TRUTH!" The thing roared and suddenly he was sent to the ground, his body felt like it was on fire for a moment, the pain traveling to his arm where it got intense, as if something was being burned into his skin. He yanked his sleeve up to see the word 'liar' there as if it were branded into him with a hot iron and boy did it fucking hurt. 

"Fine...fine it...was...I was watching Xelayan bondage porn okay? What the FUCK do you want from me?" He looked up from his arm and the Alara creature was gone, except Alara wasn't. She was standing there in a nightgown which was more risque than anything he'd ever seen her in. He also realized he was on his knees in her room and she'd probably just heard what he said. At first it was questionable but when she dropped the glass of water she was holding he knew she'd at least heard some of it. "Okay...let me explain see the word it was burned into my arm!" He held his arm up and pointed at it but nothing was there. 

"You know," Alara started, "I don't know why the fuck you just came in here and confessed to me you were watching Xelayan bondage porn of all things and I want to be so angry but in another way I think you believe me now. Don't you?" She sighed and went to cleaning up the water she spilled. He watched her and started to put two and two together. She'd claimed these aliens had them in a truth or dare game and that's exactly what the Alara thing just asked him. Truth or dare. When he tried to lie to it, he'd gotten the punishment, the brand on his arm. At least that was temporary but she...she was right. 

"First off I'm really sorry you found that out please don't tell anyone." He said, "Secondly, yeah, I believe you." He was sorry he doubted her in the first place but it had sounded completely insane. Now that he'd experienced it himself then he knew that there was no way she was lying. 

"See why there's not much we can exactly do about it?" Alara asked. 

"No I get it, and I also get the feeling no one else is going to believe this until it happens to them and that could become very risky." He said. "In your...dream or whatever happened, who did I ask truth or dare to?" 

"Lt. LaMarr." She said. 

"Come on, we have to get to him before it's too late," Ed said. She looked at him and then motioned to how she was dressed. "Right, uh...I'll find him, you find me once you are...um...less..."

"Sexy?" She asked. 

"I was not going to say that." He defended. 

"It's fine just...go, I'll catch up to you." He nodded and hurried out of there. He hadn't even believed Alara and he was the captain of the ship, this meant there was little to no chance of John believing him but he also knew he couldn't just stand around and do nothing. If aliens were taking over the ship and had them trapped in this game then the sooner they did something about it, the better. 


	3. Dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is some death/violence in this chapter but don't worry it's none of the main characters.

Once she was back in uniform she used the computer to locate where LaMarr was and unfortunately it was in the mess hall, which meant a lot of people would be there. She didn't want to have to confront him there so hopefully, Ed was smart enough to get there first and then pull him out of the crowd. It hadn't taken her that long to get dressed so she really didn't know, which was what made her basically run there. She ran through the doors to the mess hall and saw Ed sitting at a table with John, Gordon, and Bortus but it looked like he was trying to explain something to them. 

"This is not going to go well," She muttered to herself and hurried towards the table. The moment she stepped up it, all of them looked at her like she was supposed to be explaining something herself. 

"She'll back me up on this," Ed said. 

"Depends on what you just said, Captain," Alara said not wanting to back him up on something completely incorrect or terrifying. She didn't need them all to start panicking if it wasn't explained right. The lights started to flicker in the room, things went pitch black for about ten seconds and one by one she saw eyes start to glow. "Oh no...no not here not now..." She started to back up. 

"Alara..." The demonic crew spoke to her in perfect unison. 

"Truth okay just get it over with!" She snapped. 

"Who is the most incompetent member of your security team?" They all asked her at the same time. She really didn't want to answer this, mostly because the person she wanted to name she also thought was unstable. The violent type of unstable that would get violent with her if she accused them of being incompetent. It had been noted in a report and even the Captain knew about this to some degree but they had decided not to do much about it until they were back at headquarters and the girl was safely off of the ship. 

"No one," She said, "I trust them all and they are all good at their jobs." 

"LIAR!" They all yelled at her. 

"FINE! FINE! ENSIGN MAXI IS THE MOST INCOMPETENT TEAM MEMBER!" She yelled. Of course, just as she was expecting, a moment later the lights came back on, everything was normal and people were staring at her. Ensign Maxi was in the room. 

"What the fuck?" She snapped. 

"Ensign, I can explain," Alara said as the girl came closer to her. Ed stood up and got between them. Alara didn't think it was due to the fact that Ed believed she couldn't defend herself, she figured he was doing this to prevent anything from escalating and hoping that since he was the captain, someone like an Ensign would have better sense than to overreact while he was standing right there. 

"If you weren't a Xelyan I'd punch your fucking skull in," Ensign Maxi told her and then stormed out of there. 

"That's probably why she said it was you," Gordon called after her. 

"Not helpful, Gordon," Ed warned him. "Do you see now that we weren't lying?" 

"Maybe..." John said, "But I thought I was supposed to be next in this thing and no aliens have mind controlled me." 

"Well, clearly we haven't figured out entirely how this works." Ed said, "But you all just saw that." 

"What we saw was Alara randomly calling Ensign Maxi incompetent." Gordon said, "And as much as I could believe your wild explanation for why that might happen, I could also believe she's just lost her mind." 

"Really?" Alara asked sounding more annoyed than she meant to sound. 

"We've been out in the middle of nowhere a long time, and you're one of the youngest on the crew. Space madness." Gordon said. 

"That's an urban legend and I don't think even if it was a real thing, Alara of all people would have it." Ed said. It felt nice to hear him defend her after all of that stuff before about how she was possibly unstable. "Besides, I'm agreeing with her, you think I have space madness?" 

"I think you just have a crush on Alara." Gordon shrugged.

"That's not appropriate." Ed warned him, "Look, neither of us have any reason to make this up but maybe it's going to need to happen to one of you first before you understand it. Just, keep your eyes open for anything weird." 

"Like what?" John asked. 

"Anything," Alara said. "Lights flickering on and off, seeing and hearing something that no one else says they saw, stuff like that." Ed stepped over to her and put a hand on her arm then motioned for the doors. 

"Can I see you outside?" He asked. 

"Sure." She said and headed out of there with Ed, even though she was kind of curious as to why Gordon had said that thing about the captain having a crush on her. Though, he was Gordon, so it was very hard to tell if that was also a joke or not and if she started to badger Ed about it or Gordon himself, it wouldn't go well. Both of them would then realize she had a crush on Ed and as of now, as far as she did know, Kelly hadn't told anyone. She preferred to keep it that way. 

"What do we do now?" He asked her once they were in the hall and mostly alone other than a few crew members passing by them on occasion. 

"You're asking me?" she asked, "I don't know..." 

"You are the security chief." He reminded her. 

"And these aliens or things or whatever...they are basically invisible to us until they want to do something fucked up." She said, "I don't know how to catch them or even how to start with that, we'd probably need some type of modified scanner or something but even if we got to that point they can clearly manipulate time and space so they could easily ruin it." 

"What do they want?" Ed asked. 

"They obviously want to play a game." She said, "Truth or dare." 

"But why?" 

"I don't know," She said, "I think this is their first interaction with humans and well...other species on our crew and they are powerful. It's like, seeing what kind of screwed up things you can get lab rats to do to each other. It's their entertainment, consider there may not be any reason other than that." 

The thought was rather chilling but what else could it be? These beings, whatever they were, had managed to manipulate so much already. They could control people, or take them over, copy them, shapeshift, induce delusions...if they were that powerful then they most likely had a god complex. If that were the case then anything humans, Xelayans, or otherwise could offer them would be, well, nothing. At least not more than entertainment for whatever their sick games were. They had no reason to care about them as a crew or what they were doing. This wasn't like any species of alien that anyone had encountered before. Even worse, she wondered if maybe crews had run across them and never survived to tell the tale of it because their entire ship was destroyed. 

"Sometimes that is the only reason." Ed muttered, "As of now I can't see any motive beyond that." 

"They seem focused on me, for some reason, I think it was because I noticed this first." She said. It was possible they saw it as a sign of intelligence but she didn't think of herself that highly. Even if on average Xelayans were smarter than humans, compared to Xelayans she actually wasn't very smart. The entire situation was confusing. 

"I think it's obvious they are focused on you but, how do I play into this and why?" He asked. She stared at him as she remembered what she shouted at Kelly in the lift earlier. That she had a crush on him. These things also knew when they were lying which meant they could probably read other emotions, possibly read entire minds, thoughts, urges, everything else. If they were focused on her, perhaps even testing her, then they'd know she had feelings for Ed and that would be exactly what would draw him into this. 

"They may know my thoughts I mean, they probably actually do. They knew when you were lying and when I tried to lie in there before." She said, "That probably has something to do with it." 

"Alright, and what are your thoughts about me?" He asked, "What would they find so interesting that you...oh..." 

"No no no no, it's not like that." She said, "I just very deeply admire you and respect you as my Captain." 

"Alara," 

"Sir, that's it. I mean, you are not just my captain but captain of this entire ship and obviously, I would have intense emotions tied into that because it's my job to protect you above everyone else...but you know equally with the others. It's hard to explain how I compartmentalize it, but I am head of security you think I don't have feelings for everyone on this ship?" She asked him. He seemed to be buying it and since the explanation sounded completely normal and rational he nodded. 

"Right, that makes more sense," he said and thankfully it sounded like he was going to drop it and move to another train of thought. 

"I'm going to go to sickbay," She said, "Maybe there is a way to modify the scanners or something to other frequencies we might be able to figure this out that way." She turned and started to leave because she didn't want to risk getting trapped back into a conversation where she ended up admitting she actually had a crush on him. 

"I'll go see what I can do about talking to Gordon and John, maybe I can convince them," Ed called after her. She nodded but really just wanted to get out of there because she didn't want him to question why this was happening and why the aliens were focusing on him and her. 

* * *

The moment she stepped off of the lift and into the correct hall to get to sickbay, the lights shut off. She winced and closed her eyes, knowing this wouldn't be good. She was going to have to start carrying around her weapon with her because maybe, if she did that, she'd be able to stun one of the aliens but stupidly, she hadn't even gone back to her office yet to grab one. That was certainly going to be the next priority on her list. Ensign Maxi stepped into the hall from sickbay, well, the more demonic form of her at least. She was holding a knife. It looked like some sort of large hunting knife. 

"Time for a dare..." She taunted. 

"No, that's not how this works you have to ask me-" 

"We get to decide how this works, Alara." Ensign Maxi hissed at her. She should have expected that choosing truth all the time wasn't going to get them out of this. The aliens clearly wanted to see some fucked up shit happen or else she wouldn't be a part of this. 

"What's the dare?" Alara asked. 

"Get back up to the mess hall and kiss Captain Mercer." She replied then laughed the sort of laugh that was entirely too disconnected from reality to be anywhere near reassuring. 

"And if I don't?" Alara asked trying to sound firm in this assertion but she really didn't feel anywhere near confident in the moment. 

"Consequences will be dire." The Ensign hissed. She raised the knife to her throat and slashed it open then immediately collapsed. Alara screamed and backed up just as the lights came back on. The only problem was that when they did, Ensign Maxi was still there, on the floor, and she was quite dead. 

"I NEED SOME HELP OUT HERE!" She yelled.

* * *

"Just tell me why I would make this up?" Ed asked, "And if you think I would, Gordon, because yes I admit I can be a jackass like that, why would Alara?" 

"I don't know dude." Gordon said, "Something to do while we map the most boring region of space ever?" 

"This is way more something you would do to get out of work, not me." Ed insisted. 

"He's got you there," John agreed. 

"Oh, so you're taking his side now?" Gordon accused. 

"Just saying," John replied. 

"Then you believe me?" Ed asked, turning to look at him. 

"I don't know what I believe," John said, "However, if I hadn't seen that weird two-dimensional world we were in for myself, I wouldn't have believed that shit either so maybe you are onto something here. I don't know, the universe is a huge place and we haven't nearly explored all of it. Not to mention there are apparently other dimensions." 

"Come on," Gordon said. 

"I'm going to look into this. Maybe there's something about this area of space that was missed before or...something we aren't looking at clear enough." He said, "The Union clearly knows about this area because they sent us here so if that's the case-" 

"How do you know it was the union and not these aliens you think are forcing you to play some weird game of truth or dare?" Gordon asked. Even if Gordon thought he was being a complete smart ass in the moment he actually had a point. Especially with what Alara had said about this whole illusion of playing a game and then everything was back to normal and no one remembered it. Her description of this other captain and her commanding officer. What if the Union didn't send them out there? What if no one actually knew where they were? "Ed?" 

"I need to go...look into something," Ed said and stood up quickly. He turned to head for the door when Alara came in there heading for him quickly. "Alara we need to-" before he could finish she pulled him into a passionate kiss, which he resisted for about ten seconds before kissing her back for about five then pushing her away. 

"Captain-" 

"WOOOOOO!" Gordon yelled and started cheering, but he was alone on that because everyone managed to think it was completely uncalled for. 

"The hell was that about?" Ed muttered through clenched teeth. 

"Ensign Maxi is dead," Alara whispered, "I'll explain what happened if you just leave with me, now." Ed nodded and looked around the messhall. Then he cleared his throat loudly. 

"No one tells Commander Grayson about this." He commanded firmly. Surprisingly, everyone in unison gave him a very definitive 'aye aye sir'. "ESPECIALLY Lt. Malloy." 

"Why you gotta single me out?" Gordon asked. Alara glared at him, "Fine." 

"Let's go." Alara said and headed out of there. He followed after her quickly. Clearly, her kissing him and Ensign Maxi being dead connected with each other but he didn't see how. He hoped it would be explained to him in private because he was really confused, and his turn was up next. 


	4. Consequence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long I've been having personal issues to attend to hopefully I won't be as slow but no promises, I did not forget about this one though, I swear.

"The most important thing to do now is trying to modify scanners," Alara said, "I'll go back to sickbay and look into it, I think that-" 

"Alara," Ed said, "What if no one knows we are out here?" 

"What?" She asked, but she wasn't willing to stop walking. She was headed towards the lift. The worst thing they could do was stay in place because the more they waited around to do anything, the more chance the aliens had to mess with them and she was not in favor of that idea at all. 

"Well, what you said. These people, things, whatever appeared out of nowhere and even made themselves look like they were on a Union starship." He pointed out and got on the lift with her. The doors shut and she looked over at him. She kind of wanted to kiss him again because he was a very good kisser, at least when he'd eventually kissed her back, but she knew none of that was appropriate. She felt her face get hot so she was forced to look away from him. He didn't seem to notice, "If that's the case what if they also sent us out here. This is uncharted space and though it's not typically dangerous to go out and chart areas as they've at least been scouted before that doesn't mean there is no danger." 

"No offense, sir, but what's your point?" She asked. 

"My point is that if no one knows we are out here they can do anything they want with us." He said, "You go see what you can do with scanners I'm going to go to my office and try to send a message to headquarters to see if they even know our location." 

"Aye sir," She said then ordered the engineering deck, she was going to go there first to see if ship wide scanners could be modified to detect anything. The problem was that she had no idea what that thing was and since the crew really didn't believe her about this, or at least the limited members that knew about it, then this wasn't going to be easy. When the doors open she stepped out of the lift, keeping her head down. 

"Alara?" He called. She stopped and then slowly turned to look at him, "Report to me with your findings, no matter what they are. If I don't hear from you in one hour I'm coming to find you." 

"Aye sir," she said and then turned to continue on her way. When she entered Engineering she had no clue what to say to anyone. Most of the people in there hadn't even been approached with this new problem yet and she could see why, since it was not an easy thing to convince people of. A few of the Ensigns turned to look at her and acknowledge her as a superior officer but she had no actual greeting or command for them. The doors opened behind her and John rushed in. 

"Alright, computer said this is where you were I assume you want to try to figure something out with the scanners?" he asked. 

"Yeah," She said, "Is that even-" 

"I don't know if it's possible," he said, "But a few weeks ago I didn't think I could make the ship 2 dimensional so who knows. What would we be scanning for?" 

"I have no idea." She told him. 

"That doesn't help me narrow it down." He said and went over to one of the computer consoles. She frowned. There had to be a way to figure this out. They were aliens and it seemed like they were actively on the ship just not visible and they had mind control powers. Not visible didn't mean they didn't exist though. 

"What about heat signatures or some sort of spatial anomalies, like...light refracting?" She asked. "If they are using some type of cloaking device then our scanners should be able to read that, tells us what deck they are detected on and when. There should only be two of them on here as far as I know." 

"Okay that's at least a place to start, can't promise it'll work though." He said and started to enter commands into the computer. He had a point but it was better to try and fail than not do anything at all. It was a decent idea, just nothing that she really had the technical know-how to do herself. At least John was there and if he believed her or not at that point, she couldn't tell, but she was grateful that if he didn't believe her he was at least trying to humor her. 

"Thank you for doing this even if-" 

"Don't say I don't believe you." He said, "I mean I can't say I do but I can't say I don't. I also don't buy this space madness thing Gordon was proposing you don't seem like the type even if the Captain kind of does. Don't tell him I said that." He chuckled. 

"Yeah, not the kind of thing I'd bring up around him," She said. "Still, I do appreciate the help." He nodded and continued working for a few more minutes. Then he turned and it looked like he was about to inform her that the scanners had been modified when suddenly the room shuddered, the lights flickered, and everything went pitch black. Enough that she couldn't have seen her own hand in front of her face. Fuck. This had to be the aliens, or demons, at that point she could definitely believe they were demonic. What other explanation was there? 

"John?" she called. There was no answer, in fact, it was deathly silent for a room that had been inhabited by more people than just her and John. No confusion, no talking, nothing. It was as if she'd been dropped into a black hole but was somehow surviving it. She took a cautionary step forward, then another. The lights came on again and John was standing by a maintenance panel looking dazed, glossy eyed. It was open, with wiring exposed, and he was completely across the room. The other crewmembers in there didn't even seem to notice this. "Lt. Lamar step away from that." 

He didn't listen but she knew that nothing good was going to come of this, especially not with that weird expression on his face. She hurried towards him but before she could get close enough he jammed his hand into the wiring and twisted it, started yanking things out in a mechanical manner almost as if he was possessed. There were a few sparks, the lights flickered and dimmed, and some kind of electrical shock hit him so hard he flew back across the room and into the wall. She cried out in surprise and got down by his side. 

"Dr. Finn! Sickbay! Any medic! WE NEED HELP IN ENGINEERING!" She called and grabbed John's arm. There was smoke coming from his mouth but she could still feel a pulse which was a good thing. Whatever he had done seemed to have rendered power in there to only basic function, backup generators. All she could believe was that the aliens had done this or made him do this, because what she'd said about them or how to find them was right. Why had they done it to him though? Not her? And when? How? She had been standing right there and the darkness had only lasted for about thirty seconds at most. Suddenly, she felt a very firm grip on her wrist. It was John's hand and he was squeezing her painfully hard, which was surprising since as a human he shouldn't be able to cause her pain that easily. In theory. 

"Get out..." He rasped, his eyes going wide. 

"What?" she whispered. 

"Get out...GET...OUT" He repeated then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. She didn't know what that meant or what it was supposed to mean but she did know she was terrified and some sort of medical team needed to get there soon or else he wasn't going to make it. 

*****

"Say again, Captain? What is your location?" 

"My location? How do you...you didn't send me...us out here?" He asked, though he wasn't completely surprised to learn that was the case he was kind of terrified now, which he really shouldn't have been as a Captain. They also didn't know his location. He quickly sent the current coordinates but he didn't have much hope that it would work. "Look, we seem to have made first contact with-" Suddenly the lights flickered, the transmission went out, and the lights went to pitch black before they went to auxiliary power. 

"Captain?" It was Alara's voice he heard over the speakers next. 

"Go ahead," he said standing up, "Do you know anything about this power loss?" 

"I know that LaMarr caused it," She said. "He's in sickbay right now." 

"Damn," Ed muttered, "I'll meet you there just stay where you are so we can go over what happened." 

"Yes, Captain but I'm not entirely sure how to answer that." She replied. That wasn't the best news to hear but it certainly made sense. At that point he was positive that Alara had been right all along and somehow these aliens gained control of their ship, or at least the crew. It seemed they needed LaMarr to destroy the power but they also may have just needed him out of the way. As far as he knew everything else had been operating normally until this point. Unless that's just what the aliens wanted them to think. 

*****

When he got to sickbay he saw LaMarr on one of the beds and Claire was busy standing over him looking at monitors and making sure that he was stable. Alara was standing there looking pretty nervous. More than he'd ever seen and he'd already seen her in some pretty bad situations. He walked over to her and put a hand on her arm causing her to jump. She turned to look at him and then sighed with relief. 

"Just tell me everything you saw, even if it doesn't make sense." He told her. She nodded but then motioned to across the room and he headed towards there. No doubt she didn't want Claire to hear this and think they'd both gone completely nuts. Once they were out of earshot Alara cleared her throat and looked at John before looking back at him. 

"Alright," She said, "We were modifying the scanners to pick up any sign of odd heat signatures or spatial anomalies. I had a theory, and still do, that maybe they are using some kind of cloaking device to do this. He was just about finished when the room went pitch black. When everything came to life again well he was by a control panel he just kind of jammed his hand in there and...caused all of this to happen." 

"And that's all you saw?" 

"I told you I'm not sure what happened, I don't even know how much time passed when it was pitch black or if I'm the only one who noticed. No one else in the room seemed to I mean I was in the middle of engineering." She said, "Maybe this is what happens to other people you know, when we are being commanded to do something, why they can't see it too they only see our actions but for some reason I'm still aware of it when it happens." He nodded. 

"Did he say anything to you before? After? If this happened right when the scanners were about to be modified then you must be on to something." He pointed out. 

"I was thinking that too." She said, "And the only thing he said to me, after he was injured was "get out". He repeated it three times but...I have no idea what that could mean." He nodded, that didn't mean anything to him either. He'd never had huge problems with LaMarr, and he doubted Alara had either so he didn't think he was just telling her to get away from him out of anger or fear. Maybe it was a message of some sort but get out of what? Where? Was it only her who needed to get out or all of them? What had John seen or heard before his injury? What did he know that they didn't? 

"Why him though, I thought the game was just between us?" Ed whispered. 

"I think the game is how much the aliens can mess with us and they are making up the rules as they go along." She whispered, "Until we figure out what the rules are or how to track them down, we are at their mercy." 

"What the hell do they want with us?" 

"I don't know, but I think it's time to consider they are only doing this for shits and giggles because they can. Sometimes that's the only reason someone needs." She shrugged. Alara had brought this up before, that they were being messed with just as a form of entertainment and though he had wanted to believe there was a greater purpose maybe there wasn't. Humans had certainly committed massive atrocities in years past just for the hell of it, or to learn things, whatever. If these beings were considerably more powerful than them, and it was becoming obvious that they were, why not have a little fun? They were practically gods compared to his crew and if fiction, religion, or history had ever taught anyone anything, God wasn't fair. 

"That's the only motive we have and if that's the case that's the one we need to go with until more evidence presents itself." He replied, "For now, I suggest we stay together as much as possible and try like hell to get these scanners modified." She nodded. If the aliens were that dead set on stopping the scanner modifications from working then that was a big clue, the only problem would be getting anything modified when they were constantly being watched by invisible mind readers. He'd find a way though, and he knew that he had one of the best people on his crew to help him do it. 


End file.
